“We will learn a lot. We are proud to have made Villaggio smile »- Corriere.it

We’ve been together for twenty-seven years. Few marriages last that long.

Vicara: Nearly twenty-eight.

Bacon: “I feel bad”.

Legend has it that you met in the tourist village of Giardini Naxos, in Taormina.

F: “It’s a fact. It was 1993, but I was the one who was working, he was a tourist. “

s.: «Yes, but you hit me on the spot, you made me laugh. I was an artist, I wanted to do cabaret. The perfect match.

As in the best love at first sight.

F: “My parents owned a small clothing store, I am not an art kid but I had a fun family. My uncle knew how to know when he was on a cruise and in the family we asked him for sketches.”

P: “I’ve been doing theater since I was a kid, with an amateur company. Do you know those stories where you rehearse for a comedy all year long that only comes out one night? ».

But you were born in 1971 in Sicily, so you had one of the most terrible seasons in the history of the republic. What do you remember most vividly about those mafia years?

F: The “explosion” is what we call it here in Palermo. The explosion, the bomb that ended the life of Giovanni Falcone and everyone who was with him. The same “drug” that we mention in our series related. Then when they killed Porsellino we realized this was a war. But for the first time it was clear which side she would be on. Falcone and Borsellino are no longer judges and have become “the two of us”, because they come from popular neighborhoods. People started chanting for the law. And we slowly understood that important messages could be sent through comic history. that reaches everyone.”

s.: “Our double-talk about reasons to be ashamed or proud of being a Sicilian also depends on that point in history at which we opened our eyes. And certainly, thanks to the sacrifice of these heroes (I am not afraid of rhetoric in calling them this), there are many reasons why we are ashamed of being Sicilian. Today it is outdated. Sicily has made giant strides, perhaps greater than other regions, thanks to these people. In the case of Don Bugliese then, we are sure that the priest has forgiven his murderer. His life tells us so.”

F.: “But who do you want to vote for with this young political class?” Anyway, I’m not saying that.”

s.: “I say to whom I will never vote: I will never vote for whom the people of the South have accused us of being ugly, dirty and bad, and we do not even know how to speak Italian and today there are other goals. Or I would never vote for those who are myopic and think there is only one family. But I do not even vote for the revolutionaries, only in words, but not in reality.”

Twenty years ago, your first movie “Born Tired” came out. How tired?

F: “The one who overburdens stereotypes, not only Sicilian but Italian. For example, for those who shout because they want legitimacy, but as long as it does not affect their actions.”

s.: “To say, to get a job in the movie, I wanted to print contraband money.”

Is it true that the title was chosen by Aldo Baglio, Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo?

F: He agreed, did one of his versions ‘Miii, what a title! Once we took a vacation with him to Pantelleria. We rented a boat and on the first day he hurt his toe. On the second day he went diving and hunting sea urchins on his leg. He decided to stand by the pool after being bandaged, but he managed to dive wrong and injure his lip. To die of laughter.”

P:
“Once we all went out together and I got sick, I probably ate something spoiled. When I woke up I saw these two, Aldo and Salvo, yelling ‘Mi, wake up!’ ».

Why did you never leave Palermo?

P: “Because we want to tell Sicily that we live, not what we remember.”

How did you get to San Remo in 2007?

F: “Pippo Bodo, in November of last year, came to see us in the theater and said to us, ‘Guys, I want you with me, make me two pieces.’” We decided to make a comic and a second one dedicated to Don Pugliese. But as long as Pippo didn’t see it in the preview “We agreed, we agreed,” said the great Bodo. And so he went.

P: Few people know that I take the risk of not going on stage. “

F:
“Yes, but now you’re saying the reason too.”

s.: “Intestinal problems. But anxiety has nothing to do with that, eh.”

I left “Break the News” Fifteen Years Later Honest service at the counter. The most divergent conclusions were made about the causes. The most absurd?

F.: “For example, they wrote that we quarreled with Antonio Ricci, and nothing is more wrong, because we love him and have a wonderful relationship with him. They said we weren’t very attuned to the network’s schedules. Now, it may be true that some programs did not quite respond to our taste and we might have launched them with less enthusiasm, but we always respect our colleagues who have worked just like us.”

P: “But few people know what it’s like to work at it section. Not only do you have to go live, not only do you have to change services at any moment and you have to stand up to the comedy, and not just go from laughs to more serious things. But in all, there is also Antonio Ricci who begins to call you, in fact, precisely for “intercom” through an intercom, while you are on the air, to engage you in confusion. How I love that he does it with us! ».

But in fifteen years, who knows how many things have happened to you in this studio.

F: “Well, I remember the period when we were reporting on Luca Giurato. I was really laughing, I couldn’t live.”

Have you ever met a juror?

F: «Sure, he came as a guest in section. He had to submit his brother’s record. Too bad he forgot about it at home.

s.: “I remember when Paolo Villaggio came as a guest. Now, for comedians like us, this is an unforgettable encounter, because Live Village was meaner, and more meaningful than the fictional movie. He began to spread a series of the most vulgar stereotypes about Sicilians and we agreed with him that, in fact, we increased the dose. We managed to make him smile, which is an achievement.”

Can you spell on everything?

s.: “I think it’s dangerous to decide what satire can and can’t do. This is a basic principle, then, of course, other variables at play, which are personal sensitivity, personality, one’s view of things.”

Have you always had the freedom to spell?

F:
“Of course. I’ll just tell you what we did. section When Berlusconi won the election: We started tearing up all sorts of flyers, like the old ICI. We were mocking the promise to cancel all kinds of taxes.”

s.: “And when he lost the election instead, we began to celebrate as if it were New Year’s Eve, in a tuxedo!”

And now adventure awaits with Roberto Andò and with Toni Servillo, the film he has just begun production. Which movie will it be?

F: “It is set in the year 1920 and tells part of the life of Pirandello, who came to Sicily for a short but important stay because it is connected with the circulation of one of his most famous works.”

s.: “We will certainly learn a lot from Roberto, as we have learned from other great directors. For me, first of all, Peppuccio Tornatore ».

Yes, because you also acted (in non-comic roles and not in pairs) in Bara’a.

F.: “We took the producer aside and he told us, ‘Look, such an experiment is not often tried.’ In fact, part of the scenes were filmed in Tunisia to rebuild an ancient village. Double magic for us, because on the one hand there was the hand of a master like Giuseppe, and on the other hand, the fantasy was more real than the truth. In my opinion, he also deceived us in another sense: the Tornator himself could not always be the one who was at dawn, at sunset and in the evening, and never got tired. I think he had a twin with whom he rotated in great secrecy.”

P: “Youssef taught us everything with patience. I remember when I noticed a double shot of him, one closer and one further away. I asked him intrigued if there was much difference between one and the other. He stopped working for a moment and made me set my eyes in the room: the difference was huge and in a few minutes he gave me a directing lesson.”

“With Tramp we have done many beautiful things, such as the three films made by Edoardo De Angelis (winners of different awards) but they have a place in our hearts. son of tarzanDocumentary about the life of Giovanni Copide, a person with a disability.

You are figuratively “transformed” with Aristophanes, because you have prepared a modern version of “frogs”. Aristophanes is another person who really makes you laugh, right?

F: Precisely because we found such a modern comedy in this pre-Christ author, we decided to show it under the direction of Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, and with great success: two years of replay.

Twenty-seven years, nearly twenty-eight together do not improvise. The couple’s secret.

P:
If we had not thought in the same way about the fundamental issues, we would not have been able to reach this goal. Of course, sharing the roots is a lot, but this is not enough.”

F.: “Okay, listen, I have to escape to catch the plane, and you say, Vali, goodbye.”

Here, as always in a couple, there is one person who unloads the most difficult tasks on the other.

P: “It happens in the best families.”